Taiwan’s Central Bank of China reported that offshore renminbi deposits at overseas banking units reached RMB26.9 billion (US3.3 billion) at the end of Jan. Domestic banking units have managed to accumulate RMB12.4 billion in offshore renminbi deposits as of March 14 since they began offering deposit services at the start of February.

Siemens Financial Services – the financial arm of the electronics giant Siemens – launched a fund devoted to renminbi onshore investment on March 15 via its Siemens Venture Capital (VC) unit. It will be able to invest the local currency into pure domestic companies in addition to the company’s existing US dollar investment capacity.

New U.S. treasury secretary Jacob J. Lew raised the issue of the renminbi exchange rate on at a meeting with China’s new leadership this week. At the same time, a group of US lawmakers began a new attempt to pass legislation that puts pressure on China to change its currency practices, reports Reuters.